Letters from an American - Has Something Shifted?

Episode Date: April 11, 2026

April 10, 2026Donald Trump’s genocidal threats earlier this week terrorized millions of Iranians and thus violated the Geneva Conventions, Trump continues to try to assert his power over Iran, Trump has issued further threats in an interview and on social media, Trump is throwing the economic might of the US behind authoritarian Viktor Orban of Hungary in his run for re-election, Trump’s actions this week have given momentum to those trying to rein him in, Democrats are asking the president’s physician for a detailed report on Trump’s health, Pushback is being seen across the US, and rock and roll legend Bruce Springsteen is giving voice to that power.Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ-Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribeYou can also find me:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

April 10th, 2026. It feels like something shifted in the United States this week after President Donald J. Trump threatened on Tuesday that, a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. As Professor of Human Rights, Global Affairs, and Philosophy, Matthias Ritz of Harvard University's Kennedy School, noted the Geneva Conventions prohibit acts or threats of violence.

whose primary purpose is to terrorize civilians. He notes that Trump's threat terrorized 90 million Iranians by threatening them with genocide. Trump has continued to struggle to assert his power over Iran since Tuesday and has continued to fail. Yesterday, former Secretary of State John Kerry told Jen Saki of the briefing that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had urged Presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and George W. Bush to strike Iran, and they all

refused him. Only Trump was willing to go along. But negotiations have been rocky all along, and today Trump warned that if Iran didn't come to a peace deal, the U.S. would launch even deadlier attacks. We have a reset going, Trump told the New York Post. At 931 this morning, Trump's social media account posted, world's most powerful reset, President DJT. At 1227, Trump vented some of his apparent frustration that the Iranians have been trolling him, posting, The Iranians are better at handling the fake news, media, and public relations

than they aren't fighting. A minute later, he posted, The Iranians don't seem to realize they have no cards other than a short-term extortion of the world by using international waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate. Trump continues to try to shore up the international right-wing authoritarian project, even as people are turning against it.

Today, he threw the economic might of the United States of America behind Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, who gutted Hungary's democracy and turned the country into an authoritarian state. Orban is deeply underwater ahead of the April 12th parliamentary elections in Hungary. President J.D. Vance has been in Hungary to support Orban, and today Trump posted, My administration stands ready to use the full economic might of the United States to strengthen Hungary's economy, as we have done for our great allies in the past, if Prime Minister Victor Orban and the Hungarian people ever need it. We are excited to invest in the future prosperity that will be generated by Orban's continued leadership, President Donald J. Trump.

A recently revealed transcript of an October 2025 phone call between Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin shows Orban promising to be a mouse aiding the lion Putin, telling the Russian leader, in any matter where I can be of assistance, I am at your service. Tonight, Hungarians filled the streets to protest Orban, chanting, Russians, go home. Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal reported today that Trump has repeatedly promised to pardon his top officials before he leaves office, and that he brings up the subject frequently. In a recent meeting, he said, I'll pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the

Oval Office. In response to a request for comment by Meredith Kyle of People magazine, White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt said, The Wall Street Journal should learn to take a joke. However, the President's pardon power is absolute. But Tuesday has given momentum to those trying to reign Trump in. Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat of Maryland, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, made a record of Trump's recent bizarre behavior in a letter today to the president's personal physician, Captain Sean P. Barbabella. Raskin noted that experts have repeatedly warned that the president has been exhibiting signs consistent with dementia and cognitive decline. And in recent days, the country has watched President Trump's public statements and outbursts

turn increasingly incoherent, volatile, profane, deranged, and threatening. Raskin recounted Trump's wild social media posts and weird performance at the White House Easter egg role, what the congressman called a bizarre display that shocked tens of millions of Americans and astonished observers across the political spectrum. Raskin wrote that Trump's apparently deteriorating condition has caused tremendous alarm across the nation and political spectrum about the president's cognitive function and continuing mental fitness for the office of president and prompted concerns about the president's well-being. Raskin asked the White House physician to conduct a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment of the president, including a formal cognitive screening instrument,

and publicly release the results. Provide a detailed report on the president's current mental and physical health status, including any medications he is currently taking and their potential cognitive side effects, and make yourself available for a briefing under oath with members of the committee on the results of this assessment. Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said on Morning Joe today that the gradual destruction of the the United States under Trump changed suddenly on Tuesday. For the leader of the free world, the leader of this country, to just make a nakedly genocidal threat against another civilization, as if the United States of America was a death star that was going around blowing up civilizations,

of course that crosses a new line. And, of course, that's a new low, he said. Buttigieg continued. I think the really important thing to remember, is that the effects of that kind of thing will outlive Donald Trump long after he has departed the scene. The collapse in trust, not just affection for the United States, but trust in the United States. And it's very important that not just allies, but frankly also adversaries that we're negotiating with when we're making a peace deal or some other kind of deal, that they have a level of trust, that there is stability in the United States. those trying to write off Trump's threat as bluster or just Trump being Trump were missing the point, he said.

The reality is that the whole country is being judged. Even though most Americans don't support him anyway, the whole country is being judged just for tolerating that kind of thing at the White House. The pushback against Trump is spreading across the United States. Jess Craven of Chop Wood Carrey today called out rock and roll legend Bruce Springsteen's opening last night at his concert in Los Angeles. Good evening Los Angeles, he said. Welcome to the Land of Hope and Dreams tour. We begin tonight with a prayer for our men and women in service overseas. We pray for their safe return. The Mighty East Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of of rock and roll in dangerous times. We are here in celebration and defense

of our American ideals, democracy, our Constitution, and our sacred American promise. The America I love, the America that I've written about for 50 years, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty around the world, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless, and treasonous. administration, he said. Tonight we ask all of you to join with us in choosing hope over fear,

democracy over authoritarianism, the rule of law over lawlessness, ethics over unrivaled corruption, resistance over complacency, truth over lies, unity over division, and peace over war. from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead in Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.